Dundee boss James McPake rued the “wee bit of luck” missing for his side during their 3-0 defeat at champions Rangers.
But the nature of the three goals conceded – a deflection, an own goal and a poor Alfredo Morelos goal – frustrated the Dens manager.
“It was a tough game,” McPake said.
“I don’t think I could ask any more of my players in terms of work-rate and attitude.
“The goals we lost were very unlucky. The first one Adam Legzdins is saving easily. Liam Fontaine does the right thing trying to block it.
“The second goal is a hell of a ball across Ryan Sweeney has to deal with. They are the ones you hope you miskick and there’s no one behind you.
“The third goal ricochets off about four people and Morelos gets a tap-in.
“They had other chances and Adam Legzdins was excellent to pull off some saves.
“Our real big chance came at 2-0 when Paul McMullan was very unlucky and it was a great save from Allan McGregor.
“That goes in, you never know.”
Perspective
On top of McMullan’s strike, Leigh Griffiths saw an effort come off the post, strike McGregor in the face and bounce behind for a corner in the closing stages.
The defeat brings to an end a busy week for the Dark Blues after victories over Motherwell and St Johnstone.
And, despite ending on a sour note with a loss, McPake is keen to highlight the good overall work done by his side over the past few weeks.
“When you put it into perspective, we have played five games of this period and the two games we lost were to Celtic and Rangers. We won the other three,” he added.
“We have to be positive about that.
“If someone was to offer me, in the space of a week, we’d beat Motherwell convincingly, beat St Johnstone convincingly and then put up a fight against Rangers I’d have taken it.
“The players are disappointed but they couldn’t have given me any more.
“A wee bit of luck would’ve been nice but Rangers are a very good side and deserved the win.”
